Replacing that Which Was Lost
by SirAmbala
Summary: The Winter War is over and the squad's are feeling their loses. The Head Captain knows just what to do though.


A/N: I should be working on my other story I know that, but I have a plot bunny that won't go away. So here is my Ruouni Kenshin/Bleach crossover.

Summary: In which the open captain positions are finally filled, and the insanity that follows.

OoOOoo

The Winter War was finally over, and Soul Society was finally picking up the pieces. The grieving for those they had lost was coming to a close. With the clean up finally done the head captain decided the only way they were going to have stability again was if the open captain's positions were filled. The problem was that not that many positions needed filling before and finding suitable candidates was usually left up to the previous captain if possible. Now he had three open positions and no one came to mind to fill them. After starring at the same wall for most of the day he finally decided to bite the bullet so to speak and ask the only people he could think of that could handle the positions. The position of captain was a tough one, but with the divisions being betrayed by their own captain filling these positions was even harder. The fifth in particular was going to be very tricky. Lieutenant Hinimori was still recovering from Aizen's initial betrayal and being run through by squad ten's captain Hitsugaya Toshiro. All in all it was a complete mess.

Finally making up his mind the one armed leader went in search of his prospective captains. Finding them was always easier said than done. While each of them had completed training at the academy, none of them had joined the squads. Had they been any other people he would never of aloud it, but due to them remembering their living life he could not force them. Each of them had lived through things that would make even the strongest Shinigami quiver a little. Because of this he had made them complete their training so they could control their new power. Now they lived outside the walls of Serieti and lived to protect the souls there.

ooOOoo

The Lieutenant of squad five and temporary captain looked out the window for the hundredth time this hour. She was no stranger to the amount of paper work her division got, but since the captain's place was still open she was stuck with all the paper work.

"You look over worked, that you do," came a voice from the doorway startling her from her thoughts.

"Oh…I'm sorry. Is there something I can help you with?" she asked with a forced smile.

"I believe I will be able to help you, that I do," the red head said with a kind smile.

"Excuse me?" she asked in confusion.

"My name is Himura Kenshin. I am going to be the new captain of squad five," he responded with the same smile.

"…" nothing came out of the lieutenant's mouth after his declaration. Instead memories of her previous captain and the traitor played through her mind. Since the betrayal her recovery had been slow at best. To make matters worse her childhood friend stabbed her through the chest during the final battle. Of course it wasn't his fault, but it didn't help in the healing process. Now her squad was being given a new captain, and she was going to have to work alongside him. After Aizen betrayed her she wasn't sure she had it in her to trust another.

"Hinimori-dono, are you alright?" asked the concerned red head. He had been informed of his new lieutenant's case prior to taking the position, and out of all the possible candidates he was the best suited to deal with squad five.

"Yes…I'm sorry…" she responded refusing to look at him. She was too scared to see his reaction. She knew that this day would be coming and that it would be hard. She also heard the way her fellow Shinigami spoke about her, but they just didn't understand the way she looked at her former captain. Really the only other people that understood were her fellow lieutenants, and even they didn't understand completely.

"Hinimori-dono will you please look at me?" the red head requested of her.

Slowly the brunette lifted her head to meet the violet eyes of her new captain. Instead of the scorn she expected to see, she only saw a sort of understanding in them.

"Hinimori-dono you needn't be ashamed by the way you feel. You were betrayed by someone that you put great trust in, and it will be a long while before you are able to trust again. This is not something that just disappears in a short period of time. With that being said I understand that working with me as your new captain will be very difficult. I only ask that you give me a chance to earn your trust."

"I…yes I will try," she responded her voice still wavering.

"That is all I can ask, that I can. Now what do you say we tackle that paperwork together?" he asked with his ever present smile.

She gave a small smile of her own and a nod. Maybe getting a new captain wasn't going to be so bad after all.

ooOOoo

Six Months Later

ooOOoo

It had been six months since the three vacant captain's positions had been filled. Surprisingly to everyone the transition to the new captain's taking over was smooth. What was even more surprising was that no one had even heard of these three people before and yet the ascended to the position of captain like it was what they were meant to do.

Squad five in particular was faring very well with their new captain. While the other squads had been betrayed, their captain was at the spearhead. Squad five's lieutenant was the most affected by the betrayal and some were concerned whether she could maintain her position of lieutenant. With six months of being with the new captain any worry that she could not handle her duties went out the window. Her particular captain was picked because he was the best person to handle the job. He was most known for his kindness and compassion.

ooOOoo

Hitsugaya Toshiro Captain of Squad 10 was in visiting his childhood friend Hinimori Momo. Luckily they were both moving past the incident that happened during the final battle, but Hitsugaya would always feel responsible for it. They were in the middle of their usual heated debate as to what she should call him when the captain of squad three walked in smoking his ever present cigarette.

"Have either of you seen the Battosai?" he asked sounding annoyed as ever.

"Who are you looking for Captain Hajime?" Hinimori asked.

"I'm looking for the Battosai. Have you seen him?"

"Who is the Battosai?" Hitsugaya stepped in. The new third squad captain always put him on edge for some reason.

"Oh Saito and Captain Hitsugaya what a pleasure to see you both. What can I do for you?" said the captain of squad five walking into his office.

"While I never have cared what goes on in your goody goody group I do not wish to deal with weasel girl's boyfriend when she complains to him that I am the reason you are late," Saito said agitated.

"Oro…I almost forgot that was today! We must hurry or Kaoru will hurt me if we are late! I apologize to the both of you but we must be going. Actually on second thought the two of you are welcome to join us," the red head said while turning to the other two occupants of the room.

"It is best not to refuse. If they don't get you this time they will the next time," Saito said while heading toward the door.

"Let's go with them Shiro-chan. I'm sure it will be fun," Momo said turning to her friend.

"That is Captain Hitsugaya to you. Lead the way then," he said sounding slightly grumpy, "You're on clean up duty then if I find my office a mess when I get back. Matsumoto can't be left alone for two minutes without messing something up."

The group of four was now headed toward their destination. Their progress was interrupted by a flattened Hitsugaya being smothered by his lieutenant. In the end she ended up joining them on their journey. A short while later they were in the restaurant district of Soul Society headed toward a beef pot restaurant.

"Very original Battosai…" Saito grumbled as they approached the place.

"If you got a problem with it Saito you still owe me a rematch!" came a voice to their left as a man walked up to their group.

"I've been mopping the floor with you for almost two hundred years rooster, you would think that you would have learned your place by now," was Saito's confident remark as he lit another cigarette.

"Just try me!"

"Sano please stop! None of us came here to fight, that we did not!" Kenshin put in as his two friends started going at it.

"Idiots will always be idiots won't they?" came yet another voice as a young girl walked up to them.

"You keep that trap of yours closed weasel!" Saito said in the middle of sending Sano across the road. Two seconds later she was in the middle of the brawl.

"Things will never change will they?" a voice said from behind them as the girl's companion joined them.

"It seems so," Kenshin responded, "It has been a while. How have you been Aoshi?"

"Good," Aoshi responded, "Captain Hitsugaya it is good to see you."

Hitsugaya nodded to the ninth's new captain before turning back the brawl growing more agitated and confused. He wasn't the only one as the other two lieutenants were starring opened mouthed at the two men and girl.

"There all of you are! I've been looking for you everywhere," a new voice joined in.

"Kaoru-dono I was wondering where you were," Kenshin said greeting the newcomer.

"I've been here for a while. Since our group seems to keep growing I wanted to make sure we had a big enough table. You were late though Kenshin."

"I'm sorry Kaoru-dono, that I am. It has been a very busy week and it slipped my mind," Kenshin responded.

"That's alright Kenshin, Kaoru should have used the extra time to make herself less ugly," said another young man joining the ever larger group.

"Yahiko!" Kaoru said.

"Please don't start fighting too! It is going to take forever to get those three to stop as it is!" Kenshin put in.

"You got lucky this time brat. Now Kenshin are you going to introduce us to your friends?" Kaoru asked.

"Oro...I'm sorry. This is my Lieutenant Hinimori Momo. Squad ten's Captain and Lieutenant Hitsugaya Toshiro and Matsumoto Rangiku. I'd like to introduce you to my wife Himura Kaoru and Mioji Yakiko. Our other friends are Sano and Misao, but they are still too busy fighting to be introduced properly. I apologize for our lively group," the red head said shaking his head and rubbing the back of his head.

Finally almost half an hour later the rather large group was finally seated. The all out brawl had turned into a verbal war between most of the table. The three outsiders were more than a little confused by the way these people treated each other. They were supposed to be friends, and yet they were tarring each other apart. Sadly Kenshin and Aoshi seemed to be the only sane ones in the group and were thus caring on the conversation with the outsiders.

"Are you certain that you can consider yourselves friends?" Matsumoto finally had to ask.

"Yes we are very close, that we are," Kenshin responded with his ever present smile.

"I would put it more as stuck with than friends Battosai," Saito put in.

"Well I believe we are much closer to friends than we were all those years ago Saito, but there are some things that we will never agree on," Kenshin responded.

"Would someone care to explain what exactly is going on here? Who is the Battosai and just who are you people? No one has ever seen you three, and yet the head captain appointed you as captains." Hitsugaya finally had enough and asked the question on everyone's mind.

As Hitsugaya finished his sentence all talk at the table ceased. The group of friends shared a look and nodded toward Kenshin. The red head's smile disappeared and his face took on a serious look. With a sigh he turned his head toward the outsiders.

"I will start off by saying that what is said here does not leave this table. We were given strict orders not to reveal this information unless asked directly about it, and we were only given permission to give the information to certain people. I suppose that I will start this explanation off by saying that each of us in this group has retained our memories from our living lives. That being said we knew each other when we were alive, and that is why we are as close as we are. It is also the reason that we were able to ascend to the position as captains without following normal procedures. You see we had seen enough bloodshed while alive, and dealt with enough death to save a life time. When we died we wished to live here in peace. Unfortunately that wasn't possible due to our power."

"So you obviously went to the academy to control your powers like the rest of us. That still doesn't answer why you have never been seen in any of the squads, or why you were made captains," Hitsugaya said.

"I was getting to that," Kenshin said, "It is true that we joined the academy, but when we graduated we didn't join the squads. Due to our special circumstances the head captain allowed us to do what we pleased after graduation. We chose to go live out in the rural parts of Soul Society to help the souls there in need. Recently the head captain tracked us down asking us to help fill the open captain positions. We didn't join the squads originally because we had seen enough while alive, but he was very adamant about us taking over."

"Why is it you that he was so adamant to have? What makes you three more special than the other possible candidates?" Hitsugaya interrupted again.

"It was simple really," Saito answered this time, "While alive we each were in positions of power. Well Aoshi and I were. Battosai was just the special one out of us. I was the former leader of the third squad of the Shinsingumi. Aoshi here was the chosen leader of the Oniwaban, and our dear Himura here was known as Battosai the Manslayer an assassin for the imperialists."

There was a shocked silence from the outsiders as they digested that new information. In the academy all Shinigami were taught about Japan's history, and the three people sitting before them were living history.

"Well I guess that explains everything. Now is anyone up for some sake?" Matsumoto asked breaking the silence.

"Matsumoto!"

"But Taichou!"

"No Matsumoto, you got out of paperwork today, but you are doing it tomorrow!" Hitsugaya said with a twitching eyebrow.

And thus everything went back to normal, or as normal as it could be. The foundation for new friendships were laid.

ooOOoo

The end! For now at least, I may come back to this later on. For now though it is going to be a one shot. Please drop me a review! I enjoy them, and make me want to write more


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